A.R.D.F. & A.R.T.

To Hightown Dunes near Liverpool for ARDF.  Organised alongside a MEROC Saturday Series orienteering event - it was great to see hordes of school children storming round their courses - most in personalised orienteering kit - it was clear this was not just a one-off but a regular activity.


From the car park could be seen of Antony Gormley’s sculpture 'Another Place' on Crosby beach.  Another example of art that seems to make a connection with the non-connoisseur and my second Gormley

It was -2 overnight - just enough to freeze seawater and make "beach ice"

The statues are from a cast of Mr Gormley's own body and are "anatomically correct" - this picture carefully framed to preserve modesty

The "nipples" and similar objects on the "buttocks" result from the clever positioning of the charging and air release channels required as part of the casting process

 Already being colonised by sea life and a subject of study by marine biologists

As it was a lovely day - and my course only took me 30 minutes I detoured through central Liverpool - my first re-visit in 30 years - I can happily wait another 30 before repeating and then through the tunnels to see "West Float Docks" - where we used to race coxed-fours in the late 1970's - stomach pumps were on hand in case anyone fell in, New Brighton, Hoylake and the view over to Hilbre Island (not enough time to walk over the sands as we did on a church outing) and then West Kirby - where I failed to find my childhood favourite ice cream parlour (not least because,  on checking - it is in Parkgate!  (Nicholls))

Merseyside is only 100 miles from home - but it feels foreign - it looks different and so do the people.

From the Sublime to the Brzeg

Another flight, another strange cloud formation

Returning from Florence to Poland I am staying for the first time in Brzeg - at least they built a hotel - just a bit late as I am now nearly finished with the project.  For many years it was a closed town with a Soviet Airforce garrison and then has suffered from being stuck in between Opole and Wroclaw - where most of the investment has gone - there is some serious catching up to do.

My taxi driver lives on what was originally "Adolf Hitler Straße" then was something else under communism and is now Ul. Jana Pawła II

Every Polish town has the necessary for the "Three Memorials" Race - from your starting bar visit the John Paul II Statue, The Popiełuszko Memorial and the Katyn Monument
According to the sign outside my hotel Brzeg is on a spur on the pilgrims route to Santiago De Compostella (The Lesser Polish Way and then the Via Regia) - a bit of a hike.

It is also where your Crunchies, CurlyWurlys, Picnics and DoubleDeckers now come from - hence the Christmas lights sponsorship

The view from the restaurant at Hotel Arte (not to be confused with the nearby Art Hotel on which it appears to be modeled)

A new take on the "egg timer" - this tea timer runs backwards!

Sneocdo Uno Sdtiuo

I don't read or speak Italian - but this makes perfect sense to me

Oh to live in Italy and eat "proper" every night

I really love Italian restaurants, I love the way that solo diners still get treated properly, I love the way that the chef pops out of the kitchen to discuss selections and propose new dishes with regular diners - and how Italian waiters are the best in the world.

On 14th January it was "Trattoria Di' Sordo" in Florence.  The literal meaning of which is "Inn of the Deaf" - strange.   Just around the corner from my nice hotel - Orcagna

 According to Wikipedia: A trattoria is less formal than a ristorante, but more formal than an osteria. There are generally no printed menus (tick), the service is casual (tick), wine is sold by the decanter rather than the bottle (tick), prices are low (sadly not as this is €-land), and the emphasis is on a steady clientele rather than on haute cuisine (looked that way to me). The food is modest and mostly following regional and local recipes (tick)

The real clincher for me was the ambulance outside and two members of the local paramedic fraternity stocking up for the long night ahead...

I had...

Anti-Pasti: Parma ham, salami and a tasty strong Pâté

No really the bland beans were an ideal accompaniment for the rich gravy. Simple and tasty

I skipped the pasta course - so there was room for panna cotta and a nice glass of grappa and finally

Espresso

and then a 5 minute walk to my nice comfortable bed

-Bliss-

Florence, but no Dougal

In Florence they have...

Hydraulic Police

Very nice views from the Boboli Gardens (up by the porcelain museum)

This one grabbed my attention - can you guess where it is? 

(click the picture for a larger version)

Very Italian (above and below)

oo-er!

Rather tight parking - no idea how the wee Fiat-500 is going to escape as it was similarly blocked at the front

Just round the corner from the Uffizi is a large planter filled with a large olive tree.  Attached were plaques in "many languages" stating that the tree of peace was placed here so that no one would forget the tragedy of May 27th 1993.  A quick straw poll amongst the gathered round tourists revealed that none of us could forget the tragedy because no one had any clue what the plaques were going on about.  The "planters" should really have thought of this and had at least left some clue as to what it was all about*

A crowded cafe early on a Sunday morning - churchgoers chat over espresso before moving on to celebrate mass - possibly in the church where Dante met the love of his life, married his wife and other stuff - I found this little chapel very moving.

Yum!

A minute or so before the start of my flight from the sublime Florence back to cold, grey, foggy Brzeg.


* Italy, May 27: A car-bomb placed by mafia in the neighbourhood of the Uffizi museum in Florence kills five people and wounds 40.

I wonder...

I bought a secondhand book through Amazon - there were two "bookmarks" left by previous readers...

Which is just sweet and...

Which gets me thinking...

It is just a candle

Like how many safety warnings do you need?

I guess these mean:

1. Don't leave unattended
2. Keep away from children
3. Keep away from other candles
4. Keep away from curtains
5. Remove labels/ribbons?
6. Keep away from drafts
7. Do not use near heaters, TVs or sunlight?
8. Do not hold a lit candle
9. Place upright on a stable support
10. Something about a candle snuffer - when the candle goes out and is smoking?
11. Do not blow the candle out - use a snuffer
12. Don't pour water on the candle
13. Something about extinguishing when the wax level gets very low?
14. Don't light a candle that you have placed in a container?
15. Keep the wick trimmed to (no more than?) 5mm
16. Don't let spent match heads fall into the candle
17. Candle will burn for about 30 hours

Paranoia: You Are Always Being Watched

Disturbed that I had seen no birdies in my garden since the snow melted - I topped up the seed level in my window feeder...

And waited:

+25 Seconds: Wood Pigeon
+30 Seconds: Great Tit
+45 Seconds: Blue Tit
+60 Seconds: Great Tit
+120 Seconds: Magpie
+155 Seconds: Chaffinch
and so on - a "visitor" every 30 seconds or so

Impressive

All time feeder list: Nuthatch, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Robin, (acrobatic) Magpie, Long Tailed Tit, Green Finch, Wood Pigeon, Bull Finch, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Dunnock (spilled seed), Rat (ditto) and possibly a Siskin and other stuff that moved too fast for a positive ID

Xmas 2010

Kirsti is ready with Crisp and a Cuddle

Making a small impression on the 17 pound turkey

Liberating the last of the advent calendar chocolates

Ruptured quad tendon - but still goes training in the company gym

Icicles

It is still very cold when I get home - never in 22 years have I had icicles but...

it does not stop the kiddies enjoying the Frankfurt Xmas Market (10 years in Birmingham - the biggest outside Germany)

Total Chaos

Airport bus is on time - but then there is no other traffic

Efficient check-in but the machine won't accept my passport - it turns out Heathrow is still CLOSED

We depart on time - there was snow on the runway, it was snowing some more, it was minus (lots), it had been dark since October - but we took off on time

In Tromsø waiting for onward flight to Oslo

In Oslo - it does not look good - no SAS flights into or out of LHR today - except for SK811 at five o'clock and I am booked on that one!

Several hours later - and we are still waiting for LHR to give us a confirmed landing slot.  The gent on the right got notification that his RETURN flight from London had been cancelled - so nothing to do but take the next back to Stockholm.  The lady is trying to arrange a taxi from Heathrow to Southhampton for three o'clock in the morning.

Eventually we board - and as we take off (an hour later) the purser informs us that we are heading into "total chaos"

A lttle accidental stay in Tromsø

Thanks to LHR being 'total chaos' (according to the SAS purser's announcment) and OSLO being full of folks who could not get out to LHR, I was given an extra stopover in Tromsø

Not having had clears skies in Svalbard I took a chilly two hour walk up into the hills to make an attempt at seeing the Northern Lights - no luck as the moon was too bright - the photo above was HAND HELD: 4 seconds, F4, ISO 1600

 

The cathedral

 

Returning to the hotel and the roof top terrace - still too much light

This was midday - but the moon not the sun.

View from the lovely airport - quiet, clean and efficient

But it is 99 NOK for a baked potato... that is ELEVEN POUNDS!  It was very nice though.  Now I know the UK is a second world country and our currency second class.

and here it Tromsø according to Saint Joanna... she did get to see the Aurora Borealis




(its a movie and won't show on Facebook - you have to click through)